The church should be aware of the scale of domestic abuse in the community and be playing as big a role as possible in combating it. This was the theme emerging from the recent diocesan annual Safeguarding Conference.
Some 70 delegates from the 110 parishes around the diocese attended the conference held at Lancaster on 28th April. The system of an independent Diocesan Safeguarding Commission with safeguarding representatives within the parish reporting to that Commission, was established to respond to the problems of abuse within the church. Much of the work to date has been in getting the internal procedures right to minimise the risk of further scandals within the church. All parish volunteers working in groups with contact with children and vulnerable adults will recognise the steps taken to ensure volunteers now are checked as suitable for their role.
Last year's conference had marked a move from looking inwards to looking outwards. The abuse of children and vulnerable adults is a national issue, not just a church issue. The mission of the church should be to provide an environment in which people are helped to develop their full potential, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. The theme of the 2011 conference was that the church should begin to reassume a positive role in fulfilling this mission both providing the opportunities for personal growth within the parishes and by seeking to make an impact within the wider community.
The 2012 conference continued this theme with an examination of abuse within families. This can be the direct abuse of children and vulnerable adults. However speakers graphically illustrated how violence or more subtle forms of abuse between partners not only left partners as victims needing support but also could have a devastating impact on children within the relationship and have a long term impact on their development.
Representatives from the police and social services reported that in England and Wales there were some 120,000 victims of domestic violence per year; that 1-2 women are killed per week as a result of domestic abuse; that men are also victims. However it was estimated that only 16% of cases were reported to the police. This was the result of many factors such as the complex psychology of the relationship where the victims often blame themselves for the violence, as well as social constraints on reporting the problem and the financial consequences of ending the relationship. Thus the scale of the problem could be far greater. Worryingly estimates suggest that 75% of instances of abuse between partners ware witnessed by the children in the relationship and that in around half the cases the children themselves were also abused.
A local magistrate who was also a parish safeguarding representative reported how there had been great progress within the last 10 years in attitudes towards domestic violence and greater willingness for action to be taken by the courts. However there remained limitations on what could be done and difficult judgements to be made particularly when it was often just the case of one person's word against another.
A head teacher from a school within the diocese gave an account of the impact of domestic abuse that she had seen on children within the school environment. The range of problems, from the emotional state of the child to the practical issue of the conditions at home for doing homework, could damage the child's education and hence future life chances. Frequent changes of school to try and escape from the abusive relationship had a similar effect, while the psychological effect on the child could predispose the person to entering into similar relationships in their own lives. Some simple practical steps could help such as breakfast clubs and after school homework clubs. At a deeper level, teachers need also to provide a stable supporting relationship with the child and to offer alternative adult role models. As with the courts however there was a limit to what a school could do.
So what were the practical messages emerging from the presentations? First that people within the parishes should be on the lookout for signs of domestic abuse which can occur equally in the most outwardly respectable relationships as in more obviously difficult ones. Secondly that abuse can be reported to numerous agencies (doctors, social workers, schools, the church as well as the police) and that confidential help can be obtained with those agencies working together. Thirdly, that victims trying to break out of a relationship need considerable emotional and practical support which parishes need to be ready to give.
Mike Simpson
Parish Safeguarding Representative.